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DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

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Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#31

Post by seem_2211 »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #18
XMPPwocky wrote: post #8

For what it's worth, the general vibe I've gotten from couriers has been that Caviar is one of the best food delivery apps for them, and that DoorDash is among the worst.

It's funny, I know almost no two people with similar experiences (user or courier). For example as a user I have literally never had a good experience with Caviar. It almost always wrong in different ways. As a courier one time the guy called and said that the restaurant was taking so long that Caviar would no longer pay him to wait so we ended up paying him out of pocket to cover it (he said we could cancel and get…

I live in a building that has a confusing relationship with it's name vs. the street its on. Uber (and Uber Eats) has never worked for me properly, and I always have to meet the courier at the door. Caviar always delivers directly to my door.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#32

Post by mylons »

henryfjordan wrote: post #27
mylons wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

food delivery service is blowing up because it's still extremely inefficient in the USA. you can get _anything_ delivered in Hong Kong for about $1. some hong kongers don't even have kitchens and live like that for years. travis kalanick is investing millions of his own cash into this space.

The density of HK is not comparable to basically anywhere in the US, except maybe just Manhattan. The labour sources are also a lot cheaper. There's room to improve in the US, like making kitchens without the attached restaurant more prevalent, but as long as you have to get in a car to deliver the food, there's going to be the same problems the rideshare industry faces.

HK was just an example. it's true for most/all chinese cities.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#33

Post by simonebrunozzi »

mylons wrote: post #24
dewitt wrote: post #10

The price seems high for something Square presumably needed to unload. Who else would have been bidding it up? And why are food delivery businesses still in a bubble? That's not a slam on businesses in a bubble phase, either. Many industries go through one before settling into a steady, sustainable state. Just surprised that delivery is still in one, while related industries, like ride-share are cooling off.

food delivery service is blowing up because it's still extremely inefficient in the USA. you can get _anything_ delivered in Hong Kong for about $1. some hong kongers don't even have kitchens and live like that for years. travis kalanick is investing millions of his own cash into this space.

I think you meant to say that Travis is investing millions of his fund's cash, NOT his personal money. Is that correct?

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#34

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

dewitt wrote: post #10

The price seems high for something Square presumably needed to unload. Who else would have been bidding it up? And why are food delivery businesses still in a bubble? That's not a slam on businesses in a bubble phase, either. Many industries go through one before settling into a steady, sustainable state. Just surprised that delivery is still in one, while related industries, like ride-share are cooling off.

I'm guessing like most things in the US: investors are looking to consolidate so they can get into monopolistic positions and extract resources from the market once they have it cornered. The risk of legislative intervention into such anti-competitive market manipulations is virtually zero.

If they get big enough, next time they steal wages, they won't have to back down. Heck, if they get big enough, they can steal wages, drive the company broke, and then get a bail out to pay the higher ups that are making the decisions that drove the company into the ground in the first place.

We then have the gall to blame Adam Smith, who didn't even believe in separation of funding and management (i.e. he didn't believe in joint-stock companies)

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#35

Post by dheera »

dewitt wrote: post #10

The price seems high for something Square presumably needed to unload. Who else would have been bidding it up? And why are food delivery businesses still in a bubble? That's not a slam on businesses in a bubble phase, either. Many industries go through one before settling into a steady, sustainable state. Just surprised that delivery is still in one, while related industries, like ride-share are cooling off.

It's probably a mostly equity deal, i.e. most of the $410M is not real money. They recently raised $600M and I doubt they'd spend $410M of that on an acquisition.

It would be more interesting if we knew how much they actually paid in hard cash; the rest is effectively just promises of money in the form of a valuation that hasn't materialized in liquid form yet.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#36

Post by AmericanChopper »

MegaButts wrote: post #26
loceng wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They make a lot of profit, recycling it buy up and coming startups to maintain market share and the business model.

> They make a lot of profit I have always heard food delivery as a business is a great way to lose money. Do you have any examples of companies doing it profitably?

Different market, but Gojek does it profitably. They do delivery, ride hailing, and a bunch of other stuff, and all of their segments are profitable, except ride hailing. They also have a slightly different model, which might not work in other markets. They don’t need to onboard merchants in the same way, because with them the driver pays for the order, and then the customer pays the driver, either in-app or with cash.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#37

Post by paulcole »

mylons wrote: post #24
dewitt wrote: post #10

The price seems high for something Square presumably needed to unload. Who else would have been bidding it up? And why are food delivery businesses still in a bubble? That's not a slam on businesses in a bubble phase, either. Many industries go through one before settling into a steady, sustainable state. Just surprised that delivery is still in one, while related industries, like ride-share are cooling off.

food delivery service is blowing up because it's still extremely inefficient in the USA. you can get _anything_ delivered in Hong Kong for about $1. some hong kongers don't even have kitchens and live like that for years. travis kalanick is investing millions of his own cash into this space.

Talk about a HUGE misunderstanding about a HUGE amount of the United States.

A variety of restaurants just doesn’t exist in many places. It’s fast food, fast casual, and maybe a couple of local pizza/taco places.

Beyond that, good luck.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#38

Post by deminature »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #33
mylons wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

food delivery service is blowing up because it's still extremely inefficient in the USA. you can get _anything_ delivered in Hong Kong for about $1. some hong kongers don't even have kitchens and live like that for years. travis kalanick is investing millions of his own cash into this space.

I think you meant to say that Travis is investing millions of his fund's cash, NOT his personal money. Is that correct?

His fund is entirely funded from personal cash, so it's broadly the same thing.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#39

Post by spullara »

mylons wrote: post #32
henryfjordan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The density of HK is not comparable to basically anywhere in the US, except maybe just Manhattan. The labour sources are also a lot cheaper. There's room to improve in the US, like making kitchens without the attached restaurant more prevalent, but as long as you have to get in a car to deliver the food, there's going to be the same problems the rideshare industry faces.

HK was just an example. it's true for most/all chinese cities.

Most/all Chinese cities are denser with cheaper labor than any US city so the point stands.

Re: DoorDash Buying Caviar from Square for $410M

#40

Post by chimeracoder »

mylons wrote: post #32
henryfjordan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The density of HK is not comparable to basically anywhere in the US, except maybe just Manhattan. The labour sources are also a lot cheaper. There's room to improve in the US, like making kitchens without the attached restaurant more prevalent, but as long as you have to get in a car to deliver the food, there's going to be the same problems the rideshare industry faces.

HK was just an example. it's true for most/all chinese cities.

> HK was just an example. it's true for most/all chinese cities.

Chinese cities have access to incredibly cheap labor, far more so than most cities in the US or Europe.

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